The Folk Implosion is Lou Barlow, Imaad Wasif and Russell Pollard.
I'd been putting off reviewing this gig for so long because I wasn't sure that I would be able to review it with any degree of objectivity.
See, the singer for The Folk Implosion is a gentleman by the name of Lou Barlow who has, for the longest time, been my hero as far as music is concerned.
I, not to brag, have about 250 Lou Barlow songs across 16 CDs; he releases music both alone (in Sentridoh and as Lou Barlow) and with several different bands (in Sebadoh & The Folk Implosion).
There were two opening bands before The Folk Implosion took the stage. I'm pretty sure that one band was called the Dappled City Flies. They're friends of Bluto's Cousin who was also at the gig.
I also can't tell you if they are any good cause my friends and I (Compadre and Benita Mussolini) were at the bar across the street not getting anally violated by the ridiculously excessive beer prices at The Gaelic Club.
Lou Barlow took the stage first and played an acoustic version of Mechanical Man. The rest of the band took the stage straight after this.
It was kind of weird cause there was no build up that I noticed, Lou Barlow was just suddenly on stage with a guitar. Yet, despite this casual entrance, the man stayed back for three fucking encores.
Throughout the night Lou could be seen guzzling from a bottle of red wine. This was pretty amusing. He also kicked his amp and hurt his foot. This was pretty amusing, too.
The Folk Implosion put on a very fine concert, even playing a few of the songs that an earlier incarnation of The Folk Implosion (Lou Barlow + John Davis) had written. I never suspected that The (new) Folk Implosion would play those songs. I can't imagine why; As far as I can tell the Barlow/Davis break was amicable.
I didn't really recognize any of the newer songs as I've yet to pick up the new album. I did, however, recognize the first single, Brand of Skin.
I really liked the concert but both Compadre and Benita Mussolini thought that the music was kinda bloaty, and that the encores were very self-indulgent on the part of Lou.
Personally, I enjoyed the encores more than the concert itself, as did the handful of people that also stayed behind. I feel really rotten saying that; it wasn't that The Folk Implosion wasn't good, it's just that I wanted to see Lou.
I guess that isn't very fair to the band but I did mention that I couldn't be objective about this gig.
As far as the encores are concerned it was kinda like that Simpsons episode where Bart gets a drivers license; Nelson forces them all to go to an Andy Williams concert and, while the others are bored out of their skulls, he sits there with a look of rapture on his face.
This was exactly like that — only this time it was me saying "I didn't think he was gonna play Think (Let Tomorrow Bee), then, BAM, third encore..."
The Folk Implosion was going to play the next night but unfortunately I was going down the South Coast with some friends so I couldn't make it.
Like I said I can't really give an adequate, objective review of the concert, but I will leave you with this anecdote from the night: Do you remember that in my Radiohead review I threatened to make copies of the Radiohead album?
Well, in a fit of pique, I did just that (not too many, please don't sue). However, instead of giving the cassette away I decided that it would be funnier to throw said cassette at Lou Barlow pretending that it was, in fact, a demo tape.
I discussed this with my friends and we all decided that that was the best course of action. I then slowly made my way up to the front of the stage with the cassette (which, incidentally, was wrapped in a page that I had earlier torn from my note book) in my hand and got to about a metre or two away from Barlow.
When the song ended I casually flicked the cassette onto the stage. However, before I could turn away I noticed that it was heading straight for Lou.
It then proceeded to land right between his hand and his bass guitar; and just stayed there.
I'm staring at Lou as he's staring at this cassette. He stared at the tape for all of twenty seconds kind of shocked at its sudden appearance. He then made some joke about it and moved his hand away from the guitar allowing it to fall into his hand.
He looked into the crowd and asked who had thrown the tape whereupon I sheepishly put my hand up; I had been acknowledged by my hero.
He then put the tape behind him and then continued the set.
I quickly moved away from the stage feeling kinda embarrassed and also, for some reason, convinced that someone was gonna whomp me on the kidneys good and proper.
Compadre stated, and I agree, that it was the greatest thing that I had ever done.
For what it's worth Lou Barlow now has a copy of the new Radiohead album, covered in a page from my notebook.
Next week — Sunday — I will be going to see Lou Barlow live playing alone. I'll keep you updated on both how the gig went and whether I decided to throw more shit at him.
Reviewed on Wednesday, 25 June 2003